The exercises, set to take place in the sea less than 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) off the coast of south China's Hainan province, come as the United States leads warnings over China's growing military and economic presence in an area spanning from the South China Sea to the Pacific Islands.

A tsunami advisory group said the quake "may be capable of generating a tsunami affecting the Indian Ocean region".

The two countries' top diplomats are on competing visits to the Pacific islands.

The Chinese minister, who was in Honiara at the start of an extensive tour of Pacific island states, said the security agreement Beijing sealed last month with the Solomon Islands government was "above board, with honesty and integrity".

During a first solo overseas visit since her centre-left government was sworn in, Wong admitted that on the climate, "Australia has neglected its responsibility" under past administrations.

"On anything related to security arrangements, we are very strongly of the view that we have within the Pacific the means and ability to respond to any security challenges that exist, and New Zealand is willing to do that," she said after a meeting with US senators in Washington.

After Reuters reported a leaked draft communique showing China will seek an agreement with 10 Pacific island countries covering policing, security, trade, marine and data communication, Albanese said Australia "need(s) to respond to this".

"We have a very important ruling in our favour and we will use it to continue to assert our territorial rights. It is not a claim. It is already our territorial right," Marcos said in an interview with selected local media.

While Bachelet's six-day trip will include a visit to the far western region of Xinjiang, where her office said last year it believed mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghur people had been unlawfully detained, mistreated and forced to work, there was no mention of it in a state media account of their talk.

Indonesia-Australia analysts pin their hopes on closer ties, but also warn of potential tensions if certain issues like climate change and human rights remain unaddressed.

Fresh from an electoral victory that ended a decade of conservative rule, Albanese signalled an era of fairer, greener and less pugilistic politics for Australia.

Japan's trade minister Koichi Hagiuda said the outcome of the two-day meeting in Bangkok, which focused on how to promote economic growth in a post-COVID-19 world, should be reflected in a chairman's statement.

The two leaders will meet Tuesday at the Quad group summit in Tokyo and the White House has praised Albanese for deciding to make the trip.

On the second leg of his first Asia trip as president, Biden is to meet with leaders of Japan, India and Australia, the "Quad," another cornerstone of his strategy to push back against China's expanding influence.

Albanese said he would be sworn in as the 31st prime minister on Monday along with four senior party members, even as vote counting continues, before heading to Tokyo to attend a "Quad" summit on Tuesday with US President Joe Biden and the prime ministers of Japan and India.

Since surging back to power last year the Taliban have imposed a slew of restrictions on civil society, many focused on reining in the rights of women and girls.

After meeting in Seoul on Biden's first trip to Asia as president, the two leaders said in a statement that "considering the evolving threat posed by" North Korea, they "agree to initiate discussions to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training on and around the Korean peninsula".

Initial vote counts showed Prime Minister Scott Morrison's conservative coalition and the Labor opposition losing ground to smaller parties like the environment-focused Greens and climate-focussed independents.

The struggles of the two major parties, amid growing voter dissatisfaction over policies, candidate selection and integrity, raised the prospect of a hung parliament and period of uncertainty while a record number of postal votes are counted.

At the Glasgow COP26 climate summit last year countries pledged to review inadequate plans for cutting carbon pollution this decade ahead of the COP27 conference.

The former Portuguese colony, which became independent from Indonesia in 2002 after 24 years of occupation, marked the occasion with a concert and fireworks for thousands in the capital Dili.

Albanese, the 57-year-old Labor Party leader, urged people to turn away from a "divisive" Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is behind in pre-election polls.

An Indonesian official says that any country has the right to decide whether or not to admit someone into its territory.

Lee was seen accompanying Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol as the two heads of state met at the world's largest semiconductor plant in the city of Pyeongtaek about 50 km (30 miles) from Seoul.

Ramos-Horta, who spent decades as the exiled spokesperson for the guerrilla movement during Indonesian occupation, previously served as president from 2007 to 2012 and prime minister and foreign minister before that.

The people of Ukraine and Myanmar's pro-democracy militias are all fighting for freedom and giving their lives, but those taking on Myanmar's well-equipped army need more than international solidarity, said Yee Mon, the National Unity Government's (NUG) defence minister.

"I thought that was it," he told a local radio station.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Tuesday that flight data from one the Boeing 737-800's black boxes indicated that someone in the cockpit intentionally crashed the plane, citing people familiar with US officials' preliminary assessment.

"I have been repeatedly saying that I'll always be open to humanitarian aid regardless of political or military issues that lie between South and North Korea," Yoon said during a policy speech at the National Assembly.

"We have run out of petrol... At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day," Ranil Wickremesinghe said, warning his bankrupt country could face more hardships in the coming months.